Former England captain Michael Vaughan slammed Virat Kohli for his dismissal against Sam Curran on Day 4 of the Lord’s Test. Vaughan termed it 'not good batting' from the Indian skipper and urged him to try and find his off-stump once again.
After getting off to a good start to the innings, Kohli nicked one to Jos Buttler off the bowling of Curran just before Lunch, leaving the side struggling at 55/3.
Michael Vaughan pointed out that Kohli knew where his off-stump was during the previous tour when had had success in English conditions. However, he seems to have lost that alignment now. Michael Vaughan said on BBC's Test Match Special podcast:
“Really good bowling, not good batting. Virat Kohli is a better player than that. When he had success in English conditions, he was knowing exactly where his off-stump is. His trigger movement goes over to the off-stump and he knows where it is."
"So far in this series, I just wonder whether he lost his off-stump because he is going over quite a long way and his head is going with him because of that, I think he thinks his off-stump is around the fourth and fifth stump line. He needs to get back into alignment."
The former English batter reckons that Virat Kohli is falling repeatedly into England's trap of bowling wide outside the off-stump.
“He played at a wide ball from the pavilion end and you would think, that’s exactly where England want you to be Virat. They are going to bowl the fifth stump, full of length. And they want him to throw his hands at the ball as he did today.”
Virat Kohli has had a tough tour with the bat so far
Virat Kohli has had a difficult time with the bat over the last couple of years. In fact, he has averaged a shade under 24 from the beginning of 2020, with just three 50+ scores to show from 17 innings.
The tour to England hasn’t been any different so far. He has aggregated just 62 runs from three innings across the two Tests.
The fact that Kohli nicked off balls outside the off-stump in all three innings could be a greater worry at this point.
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